1. Field of the Invention
A production process for obtaining glass with satin/matte finish, comprising immersion and acid solution is more efficient than heretofore known processes. The inventive process minimizes the waste of the materials and the costs because the use of fully-loaded containers in addition the product has better quality than others due to that we produce glass with a total or partial satin/matte finish in one or both sides of the sheet of glass (atmospheric side and tinned side), moreover its risk of production is smaller due to the manipulation is not direct. The process comprising immersion in an acid solution, and simultaneous and continuous manner, because it uses one or several pieces of glass at the same time, since the acid solutions always remain in the containers and these chemical solutions are not degraded. Both the chemical solutions containers and the glass pieces and/or sheets containers (used for the transportation and immersion of the glass pieces) are coated with special resistant material to the acid attack allowing the process by immersion.
2. Background Art
These products were developed for covering expectations in both national and international market for processing the glass sheets from Mexico and satisfying special and variable market. In Mexico and in several countries this satin/matte process does not exist, it means this process is novel.
For obtaining products from float glass we have used sheets of float glass which are produced by flotation of melted glass on a bed of tin as shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows a lateral view of this process of manufacture of float plane glass; this process comprises the raw materials that constitute the float glass are mixed previously before entering the melting furnace (1), where liquid glass is formed (2), this glass goes towards the tin bath (3) where the glass floats on the liquid tin bed (4) forming the sheet of glass with the required thickness, (5) then cooled for later cut according to the required dimensions. The glass sheets have two sides, one of them was in contact with liquid tin (tinned side) and the other one was in contact with the atmosphere (atmospheric side) in the melting furnace.
The traditional method for obtaining satin/matte glass is made placing the piece of glass on a special table, only the superior side (atmospheric side) will be in contact with the solution or paste, and the other side will be sealed for avoiding the contact with the chemical solution; this seal is wax put on the periphery edge. The time of contact is variable and when the process is finished the chemical solution or paste is transferred to another container, then the glass piece is washed for eliminating the acid residues spilt them on a container like waste. By means of this procedure it is not possible to treat the tinned side of glass piece, because in this side are adhered the residues of tin and they do not allow the attack of the solutions in homogenous form, besides just one piece and one side must be treated per time, the materials are missing during the process, the risk of manipulation by acid solution is higher, so that the traditional process has poor yield, quality, high cost and risk for manipulation. The prior art do not describe any information about chemical agents nor processes, that divulge methods or systems for producing glass with satin/matte finish with high quality, smooth texture, with sight and tact pleasant appearance, by one or both sides of the glass (atmospheric side and tinned side) of any thicknesses and colors, as this invention refers. It has been very important to use materials resistant to acid attack, many of them were tested by us like polymers and copolymers, the material that we propose in this invention it has been the better at the moment, which is described ahead. The purpose of the process is to enable the versatile, cost-effective, efficient, productive production of a glass with a total or partial satin/matte finish, having the above-mentioned characteristics and using different types of glass, with improved quality on one or both sides thereof, while guaranteeing full physical and environmental safety, since each of the operations in the process is fully and safely controlled, for example the workers do not have direct contact with the process and the environmental risks are lower due to use the encapsulated containers for the chemical solutions. So that, this patent present a process of immersion like so, which covered containers and design permit to manipulate chemical solutions, and the formulation of the solutions are the development of our invention, as well as the product obtained: the glass with satin/matte finish.